One Photo
by jm-oc-ja
Summary: Henry finds a photo that sparks an interest in him, little does he know it'll change everything. semi AU. Spoilers of Lauren 6.18, JJ/Emily. Henry's pov.
1. Chapter 1

Emily didn't mind Paris, though she hated having to leave her family. JJ was a big help she kept updating her on the home front. Mainly how Henry was doing, but she would also tell her about the team, how even after years 'it', it was hard forget what happened to her. The hardest was right after she told her that Dave would cry, and Reid had taken a six week hiatus no one knew where he went, not even his mother, Garcia didn't talk much for a while she was mainly all business, Morgan had tried to pull her through but he broke too. Since Hotch knew he really just tried to keep face but it was hard not to scream that she was alive. The newest member, Ashley kept clear for awhile unsure what to do, Rossi kept her close but was far too wary of the last time he took someone under his wing. JJ kept her in the loop, she would invite everyone over every once in a while just to be sure they were ok. Dave would stare at Henry for hours on end, as Henry got older he started to ask about why his uncle would watch him so intently, JJ just told him he reminded him of someone he loved very much. Then one day Henry found a photo of the 'old team'. He took it to his mother asking about the dark haired woman holding him. He didn't know why his mother cried and said she was their friend. He nodded and didn't bring it up again not till he realized that, that was his mother. Then he became angry with his mom, for lying all these years.

x-x-x

(Henry's POV)

I was sixteen before I knew about my real family, sure I had a mother and my dad, but since I could remember they weren't together. My dad had moved up to D.C. when I was very young saying it was important to be here, for me. Instead of fighting my mother just agreed, then I would swap houses all the time. When mom traveled I was with dad, she traveled a lot. I was eight when I found the photo, the photo that made my mom cry and my dad look heartbroken. I kept the photo hidden in my room for years, afraid of the power it held over my mother. I would look at the photo when I wondered about it. I would look at how happy everyone was, even I had a huge smile on my face, my chubby little arms around the woman's neck. My mother stood close to the woman a hand on my back the other around the woman. My father was the one taking the photo, that's all I knew about it. I copied the photo so I could take it to my drawing class. It would be my senior project for the class, so far all I had was the fire place they stood in front of. One of my friends asked me about the photo and I just shrugged saying it's got history, I wish I could figure the history out though.

One day my father found the first rough draft of the photo I came back into the room and he was crying, I started hating the photo. That's when he told me, he made me sit down and started talking about how mom was forced to a new job and how Emily, the woman holding me was a fighter, but none of it made sense to me, so I told him that. Then he pulled out a photo of the day I was born, the same woman was holding me. He told me that I may be his DNA but I was her child no matter what. That she died protecting me, trying to make sure no harm came to me or my mother, or family. That he owed her his life, since she gave her's up for his happiness. I was angry and confused and hurt, why had no one told me? Was it that they thought it was unimportant? I didn't approach the subject with my mother, knowing it would upset her, but she couldn't help ask why I was so upset.

x-x-x

"Really do you not know why I am so mad at you?"

"No Henry I can't read your mind."

"Why didn't you tell me about Emily?" I yell so loud I scare old Sergio away.

"Who told you?" She looks at me shocked, tears in her eyes.

"Dad…" I say, her tears making me lose my nerve.

"Sit down…" She tells me and sits at the small kitchen table. "When you were about two years old…I was moved from the FBI to where I am now, but that meant leaving Emily…"

"Mom…"

"From the start… right." She took a deep breath. "I met Emily at the BAU two years before you were born, when I was with your father I was not with Emily but your father and I agreed to not blur the lines of friends with… added benefits. Emily and I blurred them… we never had lines. When I found out about you, will wanted so badly to just settle and have me stay at home , but Emily bought me a ring before I knew about you. We all agreed that Emily was who I belonged with, Will was ok with it, he was actually able to become good friends with Emily. She loved you very much, remember that as I tell you this." I nod before she goes on. "When I left, later about six months later Ian Doyle, a man Emily put in jail got out. He started a manhunt for Emily and anyone involved with his down fall. He killed everyone but Emily, then he started hunting us, you and me and the team… so she ran, she was too afraid to lead us to our deaths so she took the fight to Doyle… we were too late by barely a minute." By now mom was crying again, she looked at me. "What I'm about to tell you is not to be said ever."

"Ok mom."

"Not ok mom, someone's life hangs in the balance here."

"Mom, never saying anything."

"She's alive." I stare at her dumb founded.

"What?"

"She is in witness protection."

"She just left!"

"Henry…she never left you, Sergio was hers, and when I travel, I'm her case handler… she knows about you…"

"But I don't get to know about her?"

"I was keeping both of you safe."

"This is ridiculous!" I jump up and yell.

"Grandma Elizabeth is her mother." I stare at her.

"I knew she wasn't a family friend!" I sit back down. "So what does she know?"

"Everything?"

"My broken leg?"

"Yeah."

"Ashely's dog trying to eat Sergio?"

"Yup."

"My first day at school?" She nodded.

"I've given her some of your drawings." She smiles and I smile back.

"Can she come home?" She shakes her head.

"No it's too dangerous."

"What if Doyle dies?"

"Then… maybe."

"Does she love me?"

"Yes Henry… she really really loves you."

x-x-x

I work relentlessly on the photo, my mom is taking me with her to see Emily, or well Jacqueline and that's all I was to call her. I wanted to give her the drawing as a gift, all I had to do was color it. Mom watches me try to figure out the best colors to use for Emily, I hear her chuckle and pick some out, a dark brown for her eyes, and even darker for her hair.

"Tell me more about her." I ask and mom smiles.

"What else could you possibly want to know?"

"Is she the same?"

"A little more on edge but otherwise yes shes the same."

"Is she going to want me to call her mom?"

"That is up to you."

"I use to call her mom."

"Yes you did."

"I will now then."

"Alright, pack up we need to go." I grab the drawing tube putting the picture in it carefully before slinging it over my shoulder along with my bag. I follow my mom to the car before running back into the house grabbing Sergio's carrier. We take the jet because its work related so it's not a very long flight. When we land mom checks her phone and we head to a café.

"Is she here?"

"Not yet... We are waiting on a car." Mom tells me. I bounce back and forth on my feet and ask as every car passes, 'how much longer,' or 'that it,' mom puts a hand on my mouth.

"Shut up please." She asks and I chuckle. Then she pushes me to a car that was there for the last few minutes.

"Evil."

"You love me." She smiles getting into the car. The ride takes forever, we go in circles. Then we pull up to a small house.

"This is?" She nods getting out, I follow her to the door. She unlocks it and pushes me in, she steps in behind me and locks the door again. She throws her coat on the little rack and walks further into the house, I'm frozen in place because right in the entry way is a drawing I did last year, of Sergio. She got it framed in what looked to be a really expensive frame. When I look back up my mom is gone, I start moving slowly through the house till I run into mom hugging Emily, she's facing me so Emily can't see me.

"Hey Em…" she says softly.

"Yeah?"

"Hi mom." I say because I can tell my mom has no idea what to say. Emily turns around so quickly I thought for sure she'd break her neck, and then she just stares at me, her jaw dropped.

"Henry…" She asks after a minute or so and I nod, she wraps me in a hug and starts crying kissing the top of my head. "I missed you so much." I hug her back and she feels so familiar and I feel like I belong here, I start to cry with her.

"I miss you too." I say because I know deep down inside I always knew she was important and always loved me. I hope that one day she can come home to complete our family.


	2. Why am I standing here?

A/n: I decided that I should give this a little more thought and finish it through, there will be four parts in total.

x-x-x

I was eight when I found the photo, and sixteen when I met my mother, now I'm eighteen and I'm standing in front of the reason I grew up without my mother. Ian Doyle. He's not much of a man, but from the stories I've heard about him I don't doubt him by looks alone. Ian doesn't know who I am, or why I'm standing in front of him besides some dumb teenager landed on his doorstep asking for help with his car. Ian shook his head and said he would screw it up more.

"Come on man, no one owning that car in your drive would screw up my crappy Honda more than its already screwed." He sighs and follows me to the street. I guess I should go back and start from the top, on how we got here.

x-x-x

After coming back from Paris I was convinced no one was doing enough to bring Emily home. No one was out there hunting for Doyle, so when I turned seventeen and mom was away seeing Emily I left. I started hunting him. I found him in Boston, where Emily last saw him. He lived in a small house just off the main road, alone. I followed him for weeks sleeping in my car keeping track of his every move. After a week I could tell you his normal day, till the day he threw me way off track by visiting a grave yard. I followed him to see where he was going, and listened as he talked to the headstone.

"Why didn't you just tell me Lauren? I could have my little boy in my arms right now! " The man started crying and I felt bad, he was after all just a human like all of us. "I just want to see him Lauren."

"She wants to see her son too." I say stepping out into the light, Doyle looks at me.

"She had no children." He said looking sad.

"I'm her son."

"You… no she had no children!" Doyle stood up and moved toward me looking me up and down.

"She did, and I hope she misses me very much."

"You never showed up in any files!" I look at him and chuckle.

"I wouldn't be in any files, she never legally adopted me and my father was put on my birth certificate."

"I don't understand." He looks so sad that I pity him.

"She was with my mother… when you killed her. I was two."

"I…"

"I found this when I was eight, it made my mother cry, and my father upset." I take out the photo of the team showing him. "I hid it till I was sixteen scared that it would make my mom cry again." Doyle looks over the photo and smiles.

"You look a lot like my son you know?"

"I'm not your son, I'm her's."

"My boy would be much older than you I hope that where ever he is he is something strong, maybe a lawyer or cop. He has the genes for it." Doyle looks up at me.

"You look a lot like your mother, you are just as brave as her, I didn't kill her because of you." Doyle sighs and hands the photo back. "No child should be without a parent, and while she was on the case she never returned home so I couldn't find you, or her who I thought was her husband, so I didn't kill her. Instead I changed my tactics. All because of you."

"You know nothing about my mother."

"I know a lot about your moms." Doyle smiles a sick smile. "More than any boy would want to know about their mom."

"Doyle… I'm here to arrest you…" I say… more like whisper as I become nervous.

"What was that son? I couldn't hear you."

"You are under arrest for killing my mom."

"You are just a child, and I," He pulls out a gun. "Am a man, I came prepared, did you really think you could follow me and I wouldn't notice?" I stare at the gun. "You better pray that your mommy comes rushing over that hill soon boy or you'll be meeting your mom very soon." He cocks the gun and I stop breathing.


	3. To get home, I must come home

JJ wakes up and starts to pack for work, she has to drive to Pittsburgh today, just to check on one person. She loves her job but today was Henry's birthday and she hates missing such a big day. Henry said he understood and they would celebrate when she got home, she loves how level headed her boy is. So she finishes throwing the last of what she'd need into a bag and walks to Henry's room. She walks over to the still sleeping boy and kisses his forehead.

"I love you buddy, and I'll see you when I get home." She smiles before she walks out and starts on the long drive.

x-x-x

By the time JJ gets home just after midnight she smiles going to see if Henry was still up. He was Emily's child just because of his night owl habits, JJ had tried everything to get the boy to sleep at night but nothing worked. She looks in his room and sees he's not there.

"Henry?" She calls out but there is no answer. "Henry!" She yells again before grabbing her phone, trying to catch her breath. "Will is Henry there with you?"

"No I haven't seen him all day."

"Will… He's missing. Get here now!" She yells and hangs up, dialing again. "Morgan get up! Henry is gone!" JJ yells starting to cry.

"Ok JJ, I'll be there in a few minutes, I'll bring the team too." Morgan says and hangs up. JJ sits staring at Henry's empty room she starts to wonder if she should call Emily and tell her what's going on, but she just can't. It wouldn't be the first time she really wanted to talk to her lover and just couldn't.

Will must have let himself in because soon JJ feels arms wrap around her.

"We'll find him JJ, I promise you that." She doesn't believe him because she knows what kind of world her son is facing out there, what kind of evil people have no idea is actually real, and her baby is out there somewhere in the middle of it. Little does she know he is looking for that evil.

x-x-x

It's Hotch that calls Emily, telling her that if she really did leave because of Henry then she needs to come home to face Doyle herself because Henry went out to do it himself. So Emily got on a plane and started her way home, two weeks after Henry went missing, Hotch told her they could be looking for a body.

x-x-x

Emily looks at the house and takes a deep breath, she'd need a lot of nerve to walk in there after so many years, telling her family that she was still alive, that she was doing well. That's when the door opens and Morgan just stands there.

"Emily?" he asks after a moment.

"Hi Derek…" He stares and before she realizes it he's hugging her, crying.

"I knew you couldn't be dead!" He says, "I would've felt it, I would've." He pulls her into the house pulling her right to the living room where everyone was, no one moved.

"Welcome back Emily." Hotch smiles and Emily smiles back.

"Em? What are you doing here?" JJ asks. "You shouldn't have come." Then everyone was staring at her.

"What do you mean shouldn't have come?" Garcia asks. "You knew!" She yells and turns red out of angry.

"Yes, I was her handler."

"This… is so not cool." Reid says as Rossi glares at Emily and JJ.

"You could've told us."

"No… I couldn't have. I did what I did to protect you all and Emily." JJ says.

"Guys don't blame JJ, she didn't have a choice." Emily pleads and Rossi looks at her.

"Did you even think about us?"

"Every day." Emily pulls out the drawing Henry gave her and shows them. "This hung in my living room for the past two years." Morgan looks at it and smiles.

"I remember that day." He looks up at Emily. "Is this Henry's work?"

"Yeah…"

"Does he know?" He asks JJ.

"Yes… I had to tell him, he wouldn't stop asking questions."

"Is that why she asked me about her a few years back?" He asks and JJ nods.

"I remember him asking me too." Rossi nods and Ashley smiles nodding.

"Me too, though I don't think I could give him any information that he couldn't learn from you all."

"Actually you did." JJ spoke up. "You told him about how honorable his mother was, no one else said that she was a good agent and friend besides you. They all spoke about how she was a great friend and mother."

"Great thanks guys." Emily jokes and everyone chuckles.

"Now let's find our son." JJ says as they fill Emily in on the little they knew.


	4. Trigger happy

Emily grabs her gun and looks at JJ, hugs her and smiles.

"I'll bring him home." She kisses JJ's forehead. "Just trust me for one more time."

"I always trust you." JJ steps back from the car and into Morgan's arms, she already lost Emily once, and she was scared she would lose her again.

"You come home to us this time Prentiss." Morgan growls and Emily nods.

"Ten minutes behind ok?"

"That's it." He promises and Emily pulls away. They had started in Boston and slowly figured out that Henry had left a crumb trail, Garcia followed it till she found him via satellite at Emily's grave. So Emily was headed there to finish off Doyle once and for all, and come home to her family. Emily drives to her grave as fast as she can, knowing each moment that ticks by is a moment that her child is in danger. She arrives quick enough and runs up the hill and sees Doyle holding a gun up to Henry.

x-x-x

I stare at Doyle and wonder what went wrong, how am I staring down the barrel of a gun.

"Please… I was wrong in coming here."

"Yes son you were, but I can't let you walk away anymore." I start feeling choked up, how could I do this to them?

"Doyle… you don't have to do this." Emily yells from somewhere behind me, I'm so thankful I start to cry.

"Ah Lauren, I knew you had cheated death yet again. See you and I are like one, you knew I was alive, just like I knew you were alive."

"Doyle, leave my son out of this."

"He is not your son Lauren." Doyle drops the gun from my face, and I step back. "No, stay there."

"Doyle, I'll trade you, my life for my son's." I didn't want this to happen, this wasn't part of the plan, and she wasn't supposed to be here. "I'll give you Declan."

"You don't even know where he is!"

"No, but I know how to find him."

"You lie!" He screams and the gun is back in my face.

"Doyle I'll make the call right now." She reaches for her phone. "Don't get trigger happy." She pulls her phone out and hits a number. "Hey you remember that person I was asking you about? I need his information." Emily looks up at Doyle. "I got it."

"I don't believe you Lauren, you've lied so many times. Does your son know how much you lie? How he isn't your only child? How you were in love with me?"

"I never loved you Ian, it was just another lie."

"You lie!" He screams and I cower in fear, the gun in my face shakes. "I'll kill him I swear! If you don't hand me my boy!" Emily doesn't take the risk, she grabs her gun and puts Doyle down so fast I couldn't blink.

x-x-x

It took six weeks for Emily to come home, well more like Emily's stuff to get here. Emily moved back into our house and I've never seen my mom happier, or my father, who was spending more time around.

"Henry can you grab the door for Uncle Morgan?" Emily asks and I nod walking to the door.

"Hey little man, brought some chow." He smiles at me and ruffles my hair like I'm a little kid again.

"Hey!" I yell and chuckle. "Come on they're in the kitchen." I walk back to the kitchen and look around, that's when I finally see it for the first time, the drawing I did is hung high above our mantle, the same fireplace where the photo was taken in front of. Under the drawing were the stenciled words 'once together always together'.

The End


End file.
